In the Future Malls will be Residential
Posted by: lettrist on: June 30, 2009
That future is already here.
Westfield Corporation is planning a city near Los Angeles called "New Century City". This city will include condominiums 40 to 47 stories high which are integrated with Macy's, AMC theaters, Bloomindales, and typical mall-like shopping places.
New Century City's corporate motto is "meet, mingle, shop, live." The mall will also be adjacent to a new FBI Headquarters office in L.A.
Experiments like Celebration, Florida, a similar kind of city owned by Disney, foretell a future where planned cities are owned and operated by corporations who can impose new order and new regulations at their own behest.
The New Century City.
9 Responses to "In the Future Malls will be Residential"
June 30, 2009 at 3:06 pm
hooray for the nightmare! long live the conspiracy!
June 30, 2009 at 10:06 pm
The scary thing to me is that all malls have a “code of conduct” and these codes can be enforced on streetways.
Some of these regulations include not being allowed to group up with more than 3 people at a time, obstructing shoppers’ experiences, or otherwise creating disturbances. There are no 1st Amendment rights inside a mall. I’m sure we’ll see something quite like this with Point Ruston as well.
“Corporate streets” is really not too far fetched. The first steps include gated communities. Downtown business districts in every city show this tendency too.
July 1, 2009 at 9:14 am
well documented by tacoma’s own Tacoma urbanist… http://www.flickr.com/photos/tacoma-urbanist/2393149883/
July 1, 2009 at 12:02 pm
there are steps we can make to combat this privatization/consumerist trend. Folks can get involved in the public realm. a good podcast i’m listening to now talks about being a citizen vs. being a consumer. the mall post above echos the dangers…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith
July 5, 2009 at 4:41 pm
The design is a vast improvement on the typical suburban mall where a car is needed for every trip. At least the areas are walkable.
If civil libertarians want to protest against anything, they should have been protesting again the creative of strip malls which have devastated and destroyed our downtowns and neighborhood urban centers.
Here is Kunstler on the issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ZeXnmDZMQ
However, the concerns of limited civil rights in completely privately owned malls is a valid one. They are not the same as city streets.
July 5, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Kunstler’s critique of public space is valid, but I think he would be equally upset if no one was allowed to use walkable space in a way that promoted civic life. Is that a valid trade-off?
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June 30, 2009 at 1:23 pm
This is already happening in Seattle. In Rainier Valley, I think. Seattle Solidarity Network was organizing against it.
June 30, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Do you know what it was called?